This invention relates to electrical connectors.
One type of common electrical connector is a coaxial type in which the plug includes a central pin contact with a tube or barrel contact around the pin, and the receptacle includes a pair of coaxial tubes for receiving the plug contacts. Edge lighted panels of the type utilized in aircraft cockpit displays typically use this type of connector to transmit power between the display panel and the aircraft electrical system. Problems are often encountered in mating and unmating the connectors. During mating, the installer holding the panel cannot see the receptacle on the airplane and tries to find its location by feel. Often, when the installer positions the panel to mate the connectors, the center pin of the plug does not enter the inner receptacle tube but instead lodge in the space between the outer tube and the tubular insulator surrounding the inner tube. When the installer feels this false lodging he pushes on the panel, intending to engage the plug and receptacle, but actually causing damage to them.
During unmating, or extraction of a panel, damage can occur if the plug is not pulled "on axis" but is instead tilted. At present, repairmen devise special tools to pry off the panels without excessive tilting, but this results in considerable wasted time and occasional damage.
The possibility of damage can be minimized if the connectors are designed for low-force insertion and separation. However, a connector, such as a receptacle, designed for low force insertion and extraction may find limited use because the plugs with which it must mate may vary in size where they are made by different companies, even though the plugs may all be of the same nominal size. A receptacle which could accommodate plugs which all had the same nominal size designation but which actually varied over an appreciable range, and which assured good contact with such plugs while also assuring low force insertion and extraction of the plugs, would be very valuable.